Christopher Lee (historian)

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Christopher Lee RD (13 October 1941 – 14 February 2021) was a British writer, historian and broadcaster, best known for writing the radio documentary series '' This Sceptred Isle'' for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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read by

Anna Massey Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel du Lac'', a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, h ...

and directed by Pete Atkin.

Career

Lee's career began after expulsion from school and going to sea in an old

tramp steamer A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule, itinerary nor published ports of call, and trades on the spot market as opposed to freight liners. A steamship engaged in the tramp trade is sometimes called ...

. In his twenties he restarted education, reading history at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. He later joined the BBC as a defence and foreign affairs correspondent and was posted to Moscow and the Middle East. Leaving his career in journalism for academia, Lee was the first Quatercentenary Fellow in Contemporary History and Gomes Lecturer in Emmanuel College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. He went on to research the history of ideas at Birkbeck College in the University of London. Christopher Lee was recruited into the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

's Joint Intelligence Reserve Branch and in the 1970s completed a study of the Order of Battle of the Soviet Northern Fleet and its command structure. Promoted to commander he later became captain of based at Chatham in Kent and was awarded a bar to his Reserve Decoration.

''This Sceptred Isle''

Lee is the originator and writer of the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

trilogy ''This Sceptred Isle'', first broadcast in June 1995. It recounts, in 216 episodes each 15 minutes long (46 hours total), the

history of Britain The British Isles have witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the ...

from the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

to the death of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

, the 20th century and the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. The series was read by

and included extracts from the book '' A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' written by Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, interwoven into Lee's own account of the history. The extracts were read by

Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom '' Yes Minister'' (1980–84) ...

, who died during the production, and his role was completed by

Peter Jeffrey Peter Jeffrey (18 April 1929 – 25 December 1999) was an English character actor. Starting his performing career on stage, he would later have many roles in television and film. Early life Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence ...

. In 1999 the BBC and Christopher Lee extended the programme to cover the 20th century: from 1901, where the original series had ended, to the end of the

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

. Anna Massey was retained as the narrator but quotations were read by

Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...

. In 2001 another shorter series entitled ''This Sceptred Isle: Dynasties'' was produced, telling the stories of the powerful and influential families of Britain and Ireland, including the Godwines, the Despensers and the Churchills. Then, over the course of several months in 2005 and 2006 came ''This Sceptred Isle: Empire'', a 90-part history of the

narrated by

Juliet Stevenson Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadi ...

. There are three accompanying books of ''This Sceptred Isle''.

Other projects

Lee's book ''1603'' (2003) is the history of the death of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

and the arrival of the Stuarts. ''Nelson and Napoleon'' (2005) described the events that led to the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. The autobiographic ''Eight Bells and Top Masts'' (also 2005) is an account of his time as a deck boy and his circumnavigation of the globe and the ''Bath Detective'' thriller trilogy. In 2006, he gave a "Platform" talk on history writing and teaching at the National Theatre as a prelude to

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

's play ''

The History Boys ''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances were staged be ...

'' and a new stage play set in the London of 1912. His study of the British monarchy and its future was published in spring 2014 and his book on Royal Ceremony and Regalia is to be published early 2015. He is also the writer of more than 100 Radio 4 plays and series including, ''The House'' for

Timothy West Timothy Lancaster West, CBE (born 20 October 1934) is an English actor and presenter. He has appeared frequently on both stage and television, including stints in both ''Coronation Street'' (as Eric Babbage) and ''EastEnders'' (as Stan Carte ...

Julian Glover Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English classical actor with many stage, television, and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the ...

and

Isla Blair Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. Early life and education Isla Blair w ...

, ''Colvil & Soames'' for Christopher Benjamin and

Amanda Redman Amanda Jacqueline Redman, (born 12 August 1957) is an English actress, known for her roles as Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman in the BBC One series '' New Tricks'' (2003–2013) and as Dr. Lydia Fonseca in ''The Good Karma Hospital'' ...

, '' Our Brave Boys'' for Martin Jarvis and Fiona Shaw and the Los Angeles production of his ''The Trial of Walter Ralegh'' which

Rosalind Ayres Rosalind Ayres (born 7 December 1946) is an English actress, director and producer. Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film ''Titanic'', in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, Martin Jarvis, playe ...

produced with

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

in the title role. His play, "A Pattern in Shrouds" was broadcast on Radio 4 in the summer of 2009 and deals with the consequences of the assassination of the Queen's uncle, Lord Mountbatten in 1979. In 2013 the BBC ran his play ''Air Force One'' that questioned the events during the 90 minutes between the assassination of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and swearing in of Lyndon B Johnson aboard the presidential plane. In 2011, Lee edited an official single-volume abridgement of

's four-volume '' A History of the English-Speaking Peoples''. In 2013, the book ''Monarchy, Past, present…and future?'' was published. The authorised biography of Lord Carrington was issued in 2018, as was ''Viceroys: The Creation of the British'', a history of the Viceroys of India, with illustrations by his wife. Lee was the defence and foreign affairs adviser to the British Forces Broadcasting Service, where he appeared as presenter and contributor on the weekly military analysis programme ''Sitrep'' for 30 years. He also acted as lead analyst of the defence and foreign policy firm SceptredIsle Consulting.

Personal life and death

Lee divided his time between Sussex in England and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy. He was married to Fiona Graham-Mackay, the portrait and landscape painter and skipper of their yacht ''Janeva'' moored on England's east coast. He had two daughters and three grandchildren by his first wife. Lee died on 14 February 2021, at his Sussex home, some time after being released from a hospital for an unspecified illness, where he contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

amid the COVID-19 pandemic in England. He was 79 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Christopher 1941 births 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England British historians British radio writers British mystery writers British reporters and correspondents Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge People associated with Birkbeck, University of London People from Sissinghurst Place of birth missing Royal Navy officers